Snowden: 'I have data on EVERY NSA operation against China'

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has claimed he taught a course in “cyber-counterintelligence” against China and has access to data on every active operation mounted against the People’s Republic by the US spy agency.

In a lengthy interview with the New York Times, Snowden revealed more about his time at the National Security Agency and addressed US government concerns that Russian or Chinese spies may have compromised the classified documents he pilfered before fleeing to Hong Kong.

The docs never even made it to Russia – instead Snowden left them with journalists he met in Hong Kong before flying to Moscow, he said.

Snowden told the paper, apparently using encrypted online comms, that there was a “zero per cent chance” any of the documents had found their way into China’s hands because he was effectively able to second guess Chinese intelligence.

This is because his last role as an NSA contractor was working on Chinese targets, he said.

As a result, Snowden has a treasure trove of information which will certainly have sparked Beijing’s interest – “access to every target, every active operation” by the NSA against China.

The PRISM-poppper also declared that despite public criticism of him, NSA officials know very well that the information he stole has not been compromised by Chinese or Russian spies.

“If that was compromised, NSA would have set the table on fire from slamming it so many times in denouncing the damage it had caused. Yet NSA has not offered a single example of damage from the leaks,” he told the NYT.

“They haven’t said boo about it except ‘we think’, ‘maybe’, ‘have to assume’ from anonymous and former officials. Not ‘China is going dark’. Not ‘the Chinese military has shut us out’. ”

Snowden's not saying if he plans a release of the “full lists” of info he claims to have on those China operations.

The mere mention of the list's existence adds weight to Beijing’s argument that the People's Republic has always been a target, not a perpetrator, of state-sponsored cyber crime. ®